A Web 2.0 Face Lift On the Traditional Press Release
Traditional press releases have steadily been loosing their effectiveness as social media and digital technology have gained popularity. We are now in an age where journalists and bloggers are now fully adapted to using the World Wide Web for research purposes.
In May 2006, SHIFT Communications, a mid-sized independent PR agency, became the first agency to offer a free template for use by PR professionals looking to evolve traditional press release formats into the ones that are more compliant with the social media age.
According to Todd Defren, Principal at SHIFT, “The ‘Big Change’ is the recognition that journalists are Internet users – they are increasingly comfortable researching and working online, across many types of ‘re-mixable media’ (hyperlinks, text, photos, videos, etc.) The Social Media Press Release merely amplifies prospective source materials; it does not replace a well-crafted, customized pitch nor replace the need to provide basic, factual news to the media.”
This quote, among others, came directly from Todd’s own “Social Media Press Release.”
The “Social Media Press Release” uses social bookmarking, RSS feed, etc. to provide journalists with background information, data, and on-going client news updates to facilitate their research. The Social Media Press Release is also able to tie together various multimedia elements in one place, enabling the journalist to view and/or “re-mix” media elements. The Social Media Press Release allows journalists to really experience a client’s story via a video, instead of through reading cold and distant text.
Here is a link to download the Social Media Release template, courtesy of SHIFT Communications: http://www.shiftcomm.com/Web20Releases/5232006.html
1 comment:
Social media is a wonderful development for PR practitioners. Smart marketers are waking up to what we in PR have long known to be true -- that PR done right is an intimate, more connected and more conversational means of communicating with people. Customers don't want to be sold. Instead, they want trusted, credible input and the opportunity to buy at their own pace -- when and where they want. PR at its best has always facilitated that. Social media enables that interaction in a more immediate, less pressured and more fertile environment.
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